Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Friday, May 3, 2019

"All the Earth with Joy Is Sounding"

While writing the post about the Biblical sources for "All the Earth with Joy Is Sounding," I noticed a small connection between the text and the tune ("Michael").  Here are the last three musical phrases:


In the third verse, the text here is "From His face / Shines the grace / Meant for all our fallen race."  "All" is sung with a melisma (F G), musically giving something of a sense of that entirety.

In looking over the hymn again in order to write this post, I also noticed a small thing about the text here in the first verse:  "Wins the price: / Death's demise - / Songs of triumph fill the skies."  "Fill" is sung with a melisma (G F), musically giving a sense of the abundance.